President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday made a stopover in Mumbai, India, en route to Africa, becoming the first Taiwanese president to make a transit stop in the South Asian giant.
The stop in Mumbai came as a surprise because the itinerary the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had released showed that Ma would make a stopover in Dubai.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添), who is accompanying Ma on the 12-day trip to three of Taiwan’s African diplomatic allies, said the ministry did not announce the stopover until the last minute because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Photo: CNA
Ma’s plane landed yesterday morning at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai for refueling, and Ma was greeted at the airport by Taiwanese representative to India Philip Ong (翁文祺), officials of Taiwan’s representative office in India and local government officials.
During the 85-minute stopover, Ma stayed in the airport’s VIP lounge and did not meet any government officials from India, the ministry said.
Ma yesterday thanked both India and the United Arab Emirates for agreeing to the stopovers and said their purpose was for refueling.
“There were other countries that also agreed to let us make transit stops, and we cherish the diplomatic achievements,” he said.
Yang said India agreed to the stopover because of the Ma administration’s record of keeping its promises and as a result of Taiwan’s diplomatic efforts over the past three years.
He denied that pressure from China was behind the last-minute announcement of the stopover in Mumbai.
Yang said the ministry had contacted several other countries before choosing Mumbai as the refueling stop.
“All of them responded positively,” he said.
However, he declined to name which countries had agreed to stopovers, saying that anonymity was part of the agreement.
Ma and his delegation will visit Burkina Faso, the Gambia and Swaziland during his first trip to Africa since taking office in 2008.
A scheduled visit to Sao Tome and Principe was canceled because Ma’s visit coincided with Sao Tomean President Manuel Pinto da Costa’s visit to Cuba, raising concerns about the stability of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
The trip to Africa marked Ma’s sixth official trip overseas since 2008. He has made stopovers in the US during his previous five foreign trips.
He visited India in 2007 shortly after announcing his presidential bid.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
STRAIT OF HORMUZ: In the case of a prolonged blockade by Iran, Taiwan would look to sources of LNG outside the Middle East, including Australia and the US Taiwan would not have to ration power due to a shortage of natural gas, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, after reports that the Strait of Hormuz was closed amid the conflict in the Middle East. The government has secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies for this month and contingency measures are in place if the conflict extends into next month, Kung told lawmakers. Saying that 25 percent of Taiwan’s natural gas supplies are from Qatar, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) asked about the situation in light of the conflict. There would be “no problems” with
RSS